(Football Games Have) 11 Minutes of Action

Wall Street Journal ^ | JANUARY 15, 2010 | DAVID BIDERMAN

[tlb]

the average amount of time the ball is in play on the field during an NFL game is about 11 minutes.

In other words, if you tally up everything that happens between the time the ball is snapped and the play is whistled dead by the officials, there's barely enough time to prepare a hard-boiled egg. In fact, the average telecast devotes 56% more time to showing replays.

So what do the networks do with the other 174 minutes in a typical broadcast? Not surprisingly, commercials take up about an hour. As many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of the total air time, excluding commercials, is spent on shots of players huddling, standing at the line of scrimmage or just generally milling about between snaps.

In these broadcasts, only two networks showed cheerleaders at all. And when they did, they were only on camera for an average of three seconds. "We make it a point to get Dallas cheerleaders on, but otherwise, it's not really important," says Fred Gaudelli, NBC's Sunday Night Football producer. "If we're doing the Jets, I couldn't care less."

ESPN showed 24 minutes worth of replays in its game, which was 41% more than the average of the other three networks. Jay Rothman, ESPN's senior coordinating producer for Monday Night Football, attributes this to the presence of Minnesota's star quarterback, Brett Favre. Mr. Favre, he says, is a "move-the-meter guy," who warrants a lot of extra attention.

In its game, NBC devoted more than twice as much time to nongame video packages as its competitors (decades-old pictures of John Madden with his wife, anyone?).

[tlb]

Official confirmation of sports tedium, even before adding Keith Olbermann into the mix. I wonder if they will do a similar cost/benefit analysis on the Olympics coverage.

[downwdims]

This is why I like MMA.

Here’s Sherdog’s round of the year
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n_CyjSORWo

[Haiku Guy]

Screw political correctness. Show more cheerleaders, and not just for a quick three-second cutaway.

It’s football, not church!

[chrisser]

Interesting.

When I was in HS, I was in the marching band.

The band director told use that band members spend more time on the field moving (pregame and halftime shows ends up being around 15 minutes total, IIRC) than the average ball player.

[Comparative Advantage]

I laugh when people say that there is little action in baseball. There’s probably more in baseball than football. Now basketball and hockey are totally different.

[Blue Collar Christian]

The intensity of those 11 minutes seems to be worth the 3 hour view to most ball fans.

[OKSooner]

"We make it a point to get Dallas cheerleaders on, but otherwise, it's not really important," says Fred Gaudelli, NBC's Sunday Night Football producer. "If we're doing the Jets, I couldn't care less."

Kind of a gratuitous poke at the Jets cheerleaders isn't it? Granted they might not be in the same league as the Dallas ladies, but still...

(No ghastly images from the Washington Press Corps, please...)

[BallyBill]

I don't follow the NFL anymore, but my son is a huge fan so I like to keep up to date on the scores during the day. I am Not even exaggerating when I say that %90 of the time I switch on the game they are either in commercial or showing some guy with headphones standing on the sideline.

[Perdogg]

This is my favorite sporting event:

[homegroan]

Of course football-widows already knew this...;^)

[FReepaholic]

It's not just the actual action that makes football enjoyable. It's buildup before the game, the speculation on who's going to win and why. It's the anticipation and speculation of what the next play will be and whether or not it will work.

It's the analysis of the previous play, showing the details of why it worked or didn't. It's the backstories on the players.

It's the whole package, not just the action that makes football enjoyable.

[Bronzy]

Go COLTS!

[downwdims]

Nothing like a good Stephen King flick to spice things up!

[cripplecreek]

Yeah I’ll take baseball over football any day. However a pitcher’s duel can be awfully boring to watch.

[Flycatcher]

According to Mr. Brown, there are often so many graphics and fillers at his crew's disposal that they've had to take pains to make sure they don't commit what he describes as the "mortal sin" of football broadcasting: missing a snap.

That gets my goat more than anything.

You'd think that would be Priority Number One, but sometimes the production guys think that some obscure graphic is more important than showing the actual snap...RRRRRRrrrrrrr!

[TomGuy]

The average 'one hour' TV program has about 40 minutes of actual content. The remaining 20 minutes are ads and stations breaks. Three decades ago, the average content was about 48 minutes.

A few decades ago, CBS (IIRC) ran a 3-hour movie entitled Dallas, the Early Years. I recorded it on my VCR. I stopped the tape at each commercial break and restarted it when the program resumed. That recorded 'content' consumed about 55 minutes; the other 125 minutes were station breaks and commercials.

[Oldpuppymax]

Well that makes for 11 more minutes of action/enjoyment/interest than offered by baseball or basketball.

[TomGuy]

According to Mr. Brown, there are often so many graphics and fillers at his crew's disposal that they've had to take pains to make sure they don't commit what he describes as the "mortal sin" of football broadcasting: missing a snap.

I watched a couple of games this season that were broadcast on the NFL channel. Their coverage was horrendous. They spend most of the time talking to the guys in the studio. Most of their 'coverage' had to be done via replays, as they missed most of the action.

[Starboard]

When there’s sudden death, add another 30 seconds of action. LOL.

This is not altogether different from the ordinary workplace where a relatively small amount of time during the day is spent doing real work. Most of the day is consumed with meetings, phone calls, chats with co-workers, coffee breaks, reading endless streams of email, etc.

[Flycatcher]

Good thing I don't get the NFL Channel (I refuse to pay for it).

I would have blown a gasket!